Turnabout Lariat
by Question Mark Hatman
Summary: Final Fight/Street Fighter/Ace Attorney crossover A foreigner meets an American hero over drinks. The day after, one of them is dead and the other arrested for murder. Did Apollo Justice bite off more than he can chew?


Title: Turnabout Lariat Author: (?) Hatman Pairing: -  
Rating: Rated RCR for Random Capcom References.  
Spoilers: Apollo Justice : Ace Attorney in it's entirety, since it happens after the game. Also spoils the Street Fighter Legends : Sakura miniseries a bit.  
Summary: (Final Fight/Street Fighter/GS crossover) The idea of making those two Capcom idols "meet" in this way just came into my head as I was looking for a fic to write. Apologies to any childhood memories I rape. All Capcom characters within this are not mine and borrowed for the sake of amusement only - Some things changed for good measure, such as giving a certain character a first name.

Also, my russian is goddamned awful, and in fact, I don't even know Russian, so there.

- - - - -

"So, we meet at last, Mr. Haggar..."

"Yep... thirty years in the making. If only we had a camera, the CWA would be all over this."

"The dark wrestling legend facing the pro wrestling idol. USSR versus USA. It is the fight we never got to have..."

"Even after all these years, you still want to know who's the best...?"

"Unlike most American pro wrestlers, you are real deal. You have copied my spinning piledriver almost to perfection..."

"...and you my spinning lariat. Even flattening that Ortega for my last title grab would be less glamorous than beating you right now... but we're both retired, aren't we?"

"Da... the last time I came to this country, it was during the second Street Fighter tournament... but that does not matter now. Tonight, I drink to our rivalry, Mr. Haggar!"

"To our rivalry, Zangief!"

Apollo Justice seemed doomed to always play second fiddle, even with his unmistakable voice, strengthened by the Chords of Steel workout. Without a real office to speak of, without having received an offer for a defense ever since the test trial... He was going stir crazy. He had an innate need, he wanted to shout "Objection!" at someone. He wanted to object, to defend, to protect... to help, but the only person who needed his help was Trucy, who wanted to test her harmless magic tricks on him. Once in a while, it was good, but this had become increasingly more common and grating.

Which is why he dove onto the telephone once he heard it ring.

"Apollo Justice, attorney at law! What can I do for you?" he asked, almost biting off the receiver.

"Um... am I calling the Wright Talent Agency? This is Ginny speaking."

Apollo sighed, and handed the phone to Trucy. From what little he heard, it seemed the woman who owned the Wonder Bar wanted more pizazz in Trucy's next show and the girl, always being the people's magician, instantly agreed to it. Apollo turned on the radio to the local news station. Anything to distract him from this drought of defendants.

"...Beloved ex-mayor of Metro City and retired wrestler, Mike Haggar was found dead in an alley near the Borsht Bowl Club in Los Angeles. A true American hero, Mike Haggar helped reduce gang criminality by going on the streets and combating it himself as mayor. He was also a former CWA World Champion. The police have already apprehended a suspect in this case. He is a foreigner, named Khomrahd Zangief, former ambassador to the USSR, who was in the United States on vacation..."

Apollo turned it off. He expected something better out of the radio, and it failed to deliver. He reached for the newspaper to read the funnies, when the phone rang again. Trucy picked it up, and immediately tossed it towards Apollo.

"It's for you, Polly!" she said, all smiles, while Apollo was getting a faceful of phone. Barely catching it, he placed it and answered.

"Apollo Justice, attorney at law! How may I help you?"

"This is Apollo Justice?" It seemed to be a gruff voice, a voice of someone who was in dire need of legal help, but who could easily assert themselves in any other field.

"Yes, yes. May I ask who is calling?"

"...Khomrahd Zangief."

Apollo raised an eyebrow, his two hair horns beginning to bend towards his face, as was always the case when surprised.

"T-the man who's accused of killing Mike Haggar!? You want ME to defend you!?"

"Da. I am accused of murdering Mike Haggar, that does not mean that I did it, which I did not. I hope that with your help, we will achieve bolshoi pavieda! Big victory!"

Apollo thought about this... a big case... involving the murder of a public official. This would keep him occupied, and hopefully, away from Phoenix Wright. This would be his chance to break through as his own man. After all, Phoenix was busy with another one of his projects of his, which meant he had no time to meddle in Apollo's affairs. Plus, if the man was actually guilty, he could always plead that, or worst, he could decide to not take the case. It would be far more worth it to actually meet with him rather than stay home.

"Yes! I'll be coming by to meet you so we can discuss the details of the case! Then we'll see what I can do for you Mr. Zangief."

The man thus hung up, leaving Apollo Justice with a case and no real details. He sighed, almost knowing this wouldn't be easy. None of his cases had ever been easy. Still, he had to go meet with his soon-to-be client. Plus... a case, and not only that, a case he received by his own merit, and not because of Phoenix or Klavier or whomever else. It How long has it been since he had one? Had he ever gotten one? It seemed that even under the supposedly great Phoenix Wright's tutelage, he still got absolutely no legal action. Most people liked it this way, but not Apollo Justice.

Even with all his bravado and desire to truly defend, he had his doubts. He would be defending someone who was accused of killing someone who was considered by many as an American hero. Not only that, but that man was a stranger, who didn't know anyone in this country, and who would really sympathized with a former USSR ambassador? Still, Apollo had to try. If only to avoid being asked to assist in Trucy's magic show. With her around, he had enough of magic to last a lifetime.

Apollo was about to go out, but Trucy called out to him.

"You're going to go meet with your client, Polly?" she asked, innocently. She didn't know that he hadn't accepted the offer, yet. What she did know is that he was eager to get some time in court, and that any call to him was inevitably lawyer stuff.

"He's not my client yet, but yes, I'm going to meet with him. I've got free time, so I might as well go see what was that all about." he answered right back.

"Then I'm coming with you!"

Apollo was not really suprised with Trucy's interest towards coming along. She always seemed like she enjoyed tormenting Apollo while he was working, and it's not like he could have kept anything from her.

"Don't you have a show to prepare?" he asked, hoping to talk to his client privately.

"Oh, that's not in a while, and besides, I can't exactly prepare it without my lovely assistant, can I?"

Apollo's internal groan was plainly visible to all.

Arriving shortly at the detention center, Apollo was pleased. While he was badgered about his status as an attorney, his client was done with his questioning, so he could actually meet with him. However, the last thing he expected was someone who was even bigger than Romein LeTouse. Even with his client sitting down, he had to look up to even get a glimpse of his face. Khomrahd Zangief was a very big man.

What unnerved Apollo even more was that he seemed to be in his underwear. They were as red as his suit, even.

"Are you Apollo Justice?" asked Zangief, his voice as powerful as his body. Apollo hesitated, so Trucy answered for him.

"Yes! Yes he is! I'm Trucy Wright, magician extraordinaire!"

Immediately, the foreigner's face lit up with a large smile and a laugh.

"Hah! Hah! Hah! Why didn't you say so!? Sit down! We have much to discuss and from what they tell me, not much time to do so! You are very cute young boy! In Russia, attorneys are gruff old men so I surprised!" said Zangief, which didn't help Apollo's nerves any. A grown, old man, with shades of gray in his excessive body hair, was calling him cute. He flinched, but sat right down. Intimidated by his client's size, he shyly asked his first question.

"T-tell us about last night... did you... murder Mr. Haggar?"

Zangief returned to the very serious demeanor he showed on the phone and when they first came in, before starting to explain.

"No. I did not. Maybe thirty years ago I would have spun him uncontrollably skyward and driven him brutally into the ground! ...but that is all in past. We were both retired. So much changed that I bore him no anger anymore." Zangief let a sigh. He did not seem like a man who let himself be run through by current events, but as soon as he said 'changed', Apollo could detect that there was more there, and in fact, he did not even need his bracelet to do so.

"What changed?"

"Ah... Old country change. Wrestling change. Even he change. I decided to come this country, pay respects to my rival. We never fought, not even once. This is fact, even though I wanted to fight him, he looked broken, a shell of his former self! So we drank. Vodka for me, and beer for him." Trucy poked Apollo in the ribs, and while he urged her to quit it, he knew she had something to say.

"I'm not getting anything... he's telling the truth, isn't he? Apollo? Are you okay? Hello! Earth to Apollo?"

Apollo didn't know. The man looked so sure, so sincere, but he possessed a fearful aura. While he probably hadn't killed Mike Haggar, he could have killed any other number of people. If not killed, then severely injured instead. Still, the fact that he didn't pick up anything, and neither did Trucy, meant he could be trusted, at least, on that aspect. Now, he would need to prove it. Too bad the Jurist system wasn't quite ready yet... He could have just countered the prosecution's arguments and proved to the Jury that, while Khomrahd Zangief had a motive and could have done it, that he didn't do it. However, this would be a standard trial...

"I'm fine, Trucy. I'm fine. I believe he's innocent. That's what I have to believe as his lawyer." he turned to his client. "Mr. Zangief, I will need a letter of request from you so I can file all the proceedings to be appointed as your defense attorney, and while you do that, I will try to get as much information as I can on your case. As much as I would love to say you will be declared innocent, I'll need all the proof I can get in order to do so! Don't worry, Justice will be served!" Apollo declared, vividly. Zangief nodded, and went to write the letter of request, as Apollo and Trucy left.

Trucy giggled at that last part. It seemed Apollo was working on his catchphrase thing, which was good, as he was far more marketable this way. 'See Trucy wright, heir to the Gramarye, with her lovely assistant, the greek god of the courtroom, Apollo Justice!' she thought. She then giggled again at the idea that Apollo would ever be considered a greek god by anyone.

"Why are you giggling, Trucy?" asked Apollo.

"Oh, nothing... Just thinking that you'll be my assistant tonight, right Apollo?"

"NO!"

"Awww... why not?" Trucy pouted with disappointment, which meant that he would get a stern talking to from a man in a cute "PaPa" hat. There was nothing more humiliating than that, except perhaps showing that man his daughter's panties. Which was something he had done, a few months ago. He never let himself live it down. Neither did Trucy's father. Still, he would understand, right? As a former attorney, of course.

"Because I've got work to do!" he said, before heading, happily, to the Borsht Bowl Club.

At the Borsht Bowl Club, he casually observed the surroundings, which, for Apollo Justice, meant looking at everything and anything for clues. The biggest clue of all was the police car and tape blocking the back alley near the club. His honed lawyer sense told him that this was probably where the body was found. while it had been moved to perform the autopsy, the outline clearly showed something drastic - at the place where the victim's head should be, the ground had been caved in, probably from a large impact. Plus, the back alley looked like a complete mess, as though someone fought inside it. Few police officers were on the beat, as the case against Zangief seemed pretty solid. He looked around for a sign of Detective Ema Skye. Call it a premonition or an educated guess, but somehow, he felt that she would be there, analysing the crime scene. Yet, she didn't seem to be around. He didn't exactly need her help to figure out what had happened, as the more he looked at the crime scene, the more it seemed like an open and cut case. Haggar fell off the top of the Borsht Bowl Club, and since he is very heavy, and fell from up high, thus cracking the pavement. That's the conclusion that Apollo arrived at. No impact from a fight would ever make such a dent in the asphalt... right?

Finding nobody at the scene that could possibly feed him more information, he stepped inside the Borsht Bowl Club. For what it was worth, it didn't look like this particular restaurant had been hit with two homicides within a year. The regulars were still coming, and in fact, the last murder may have attracted their fair share of customers, and weird ones, too. One of them wore what seemed to be a red beret and a yellow suit. He seemed pretty old, and a very strange fellow. All of these thoughts vanished when he spotted Ema, however. She was munching on those Snackoos of hers.

"Hey, Ema..."

MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH.

'Ack... I'll never get used to that angry munching...'

"Are you assigned to the..."

MUNCH MUNCH...

Sweet silence.

"I ran out... of Snackoos?" she noted, in rather cute manner, considering her perpetually angry airs. "No, wait, I have an emergency bag. I won't have to listen to him and his annoying questions." She went to reach for the emergency bag of Snackoos, only to find that it simply wasn't there.

"Oh wait... THAT was my emergency bag... Curses." she muttered, now unable to munch her way out of Apollo's surely stupid questions. At the same time, Apollo was almost crying with joy. With no Snackoos to munch on, Ema was his to question and badger about the case.

"So, Ema, you're assigned to the crime scene? Can you tell me anything about it?"

"Ha! I have no idea why they called me here. I don't even need anything scientific to understand what went on. This time, I can't even help you with scientific investigation, because there isn't any to be done! GRAH!" Ema looked like she was going out of her mind. No Snackoos, no forensics... the only two things that kept her mind sharp and sane were gone.

"Isn't there anything you can give me. Just the tiniest thing would help."

"Well, they've already produced the autopsy report... but if you've seen the crime scene, you probably know how he died already." she explained, producing a file from her coat. "I don't know if that foreigner is guilty or not, but from what I've heard, there's nobody else that could have done it."

"What makes you think that, Ema?"

"Ha! Do you honestly believe that I'll tell you? You'll find out in court, tomorrow." Apollo shook his head. He wasn't even sure that he should take the case, but at this point... it really didn't seem like he could have done it. His bracelet didn't respond when he said he only shared a drink with Haggar... right? Was he used to frost so much that even his emotions could not show?

"What makes you think I will be in court tomorrow?" he said, trying to sound mysterious.

"Oh come on! You show up at my crime scene, asking me questions about it. Like I don't know you'll be defending... uh... wait, what was his name. Ah, yes, Khomrahd Zangief. It's as plain as the sleeping agent residue on this glass!" Ema looked shocked. She wasn't supposed to call attention to that.

"Let me see that!" Apollo immediately shouted, attracting the attention of the entire restaurant. Ema looked away, a bit miffed at herself for revealing what was surely going to be an important piece of evidence.

"No! At least, don't touch anything. Here." she said, showing him a glass that sat inconspicuously alongside her, with alcoholic residue and what seemed to be large amounts of blue.

"Are... those the traces you were talking about? There's a lot." said Apollo, placing his index finger on his forehead, thinking about this.

"Well, Mike Haggar was a very big man... stood at six foot six, and he weighted over 300 pounds. It'd take a lot to just faze him. This is probably why there was so much. Of course, you couldn't know this because we already moved the body to do the autopsy." Ema said, with her usual confident smirk. Apollo, used to her mannerisms, remained unfazed. He reached for that fingerprinting kit Phoenix had given him a while back, and Ema shook her head as he presented it to her.

"I've tried... however, I haven't found any fingerprints on the glass." Ema adjusted her glasses. She knew this case wasn't as open and close as the police and the prosecutor's office thought it was. Again, the prosecution's case would be shaky, at best.

"I... guess that's all I'll get out of you. Is... Klavier prosecuting this case?"

Ema looked to the side, sighing... As much as she hated him, she disliked seeing him distraught over the last case he took.

"You know, it's all your fault, really. That glimmerous fop says a darkness' been lifted from him, and yet he's still holed up in his office, thinking about that case. If only the Gavineers hadn't broke up, maybe, just MAYBE, he'd get out of that office and do whatever he did with his band. So... is he going to be prosecuting? I have no idea. He's still taking cases, though, so if you want to face him, there's a chance."

Apollo nodded, and waved to Ema before leaving. He would have loved to expound on this more with his client, but visiting hours were over. He couldn't exactly talk to the witnesses either. All that was left was to prepare the case for court, tomorrow. He had no witnesses, no other suspects, nothing that could say someone else did the crime. All he had was a glass that had no fingerprints on it, a declaration from his client that no, he did not kill him, and a crime scene that looked as though there was a fight.

Why couldn't he have a normal case for once? 


End file.
